Soothing doctor-admin communication at WH Hospital

Marilyn Meyer @marilyn_ledger

Thursday

Jul 5, 2018 at 1:27 PMJul 5, 2018 at 1:31 PM

New Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vincent Gatto: “Whenever someone comes to an entity that has not been controlled as tightly as BayCare is trying to do — there are issues. ... It is easy for physicians to become jaded about things.”

WINTER HAVEN — Longtime obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Vincent Gatto said his new role as chief medical officer at Winter Haven Hospital will involve soothing the communication between local doctors and the administration of BayCare Health System.

Gatto is slowly weaning from his obstetrics and gynecology practice at Bond Clinic and by the end of 2018 will no longer be delivering babies, as he has for the past 34 years. In the meantime, he's assuming more responsibility as chief medical officer at the hospital, serving as a communication bridge between the administration and the physicians who treat patients.

“Whenever someone comes to an entity that has not been controlled as tightly as BayCare is trying to do — there are issues,” Gatto said. “BayCare is trying to control cost” while improving patient care. “It is easy for physicians to become jaded about things.”

In the month since Gatto started as chief medical officer, “physicians have been coming to me with their concerns, and it is my job to make sure they understand what the administration is doing,” he said.

Gatto did not list specific physician concerns but said, “I can see physicians’ concerns and I can understand their positions. I hope as I grow into this position that I can get physicians to trust me. I think we are in the position to be one of the better providers in the BayCare network."

In August 2013, Winter Haven Hospital — which includes a 468-bed acute-care hospital and a 61-bed obstetrics hospital — affiliated with BayCare Health System, a nonprofit network in West Central Florida that now includes 15 hospitals.

Under BayCare, Winter Haven Hospital has been undergoing a $107 million, three-phase expansion. This spring a new much-expanded emergency department opened and the hospital is about ready to open its enlarged and updated hospital sterilization department and two adjuncts to the emergency department — a 14-bed area to treat and observe emergency cardiac patients and a 12-bed psychiatric emergency department.

“There are still major changes coming as the hospital tunes itself up and becomes the best hospital in Polk County,” Gatto said.

In the meantime, the administration is looking at the structure of departments, “trying to make people more functionally proficient,” Gatto said.

As the physical plant grows, it involves changes in the ways physicians handle things and “it is my job and the job of the administration to handle things smoothly.” The changes “can cause suspicions on the part of physicians as to whether they are being done to save money or provide efficiency.”

Gatto said that in a hospital setting, “there is always give-and-take” and “there is always suspicion one side to the other” between administrators and physicians.

The hospital is preparing to open its expanded stroke and neurology program that will provide the latest in emergency stroke care, clot-retrieval interventional neurology services. Lakeland Regional Medical Center recently started similar services, which require 24-hour neurologist availability and a specific operating arena to stop the dangerous side effects of blood clots in the brain.

“BayCare is a patient-oriented company,” Gatto said. “Although they are keeping an eye on the bottom line, they are doing so with patients in mind.”

Gatto came to Winter Haven in 1984, when he started at Bond Clinic and the same year completed his medical training at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. During his 34 years here, he has delivered more than 4,000 babies.

While at Bond Clinic, he served on Bond’s operations committee and on its quality assurance committee.

And, as a member of the hospital medical staff, he has been section chair of OB/GYN and a member of both the credentials committee and the quality improvement committee.

Marilyn Meyer can be reached at marilyn.meyer@theledger.com or 863-802-7558. Follow her on Twitter @marilyn_ledger

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